howitzer

Magnificent work! I love the dials at the base and the aesthetics in general, I only hope it would be possible to include the largest moons of the solar system (those of Earth, Jupiter, Saturn and maybe Neptune) but I completely understand the unwieldiness of such machinery. I don't mind dropping Pluto at all, considering its status as a dwarf planet. Any chance of getting a better look at the inside of the machine, to view the gears at work?

Maybe. I'd like to see this done to find out if there's a real, engineering reason to have the driven sprocket in the rear instead of top so it would be nice to see if any of our talented modders can come up with a solution that works well without compromising the gearbox and other features.

Indeed, also the 51515 set itself has instructions for 5 models which are very different from each other, demonstrating the versatility of the set. Unless you have almost no other Technic parts in your collection, I wouldn't really even consider any other set as a PU starting point, except maybe if you can't afford anything bigger than 42109/42124.

One point of discontent people have expressed is the fact that the tracks of the real version is driven by the top sprockets while the Lego model is driven by the rear sprockets, so I wonder if any of our modders/alternate builders would be up for the challenge to change the driving sprocket as a sort of a "B-model" with existing parts?

So, another small RC car following the Top Gear and Buggy. I guess those are selling well enough to warrant more, even if they are pretty expensive for what they are. Backhoe is great news if true, and tractor is also interesting. The water scooter might be something new, even if it's small and thus somewhat uninteresting to me. The rest appears to be pretty standard.

This was my first PU set, and it's awesome if you want to build MOCs and don't care for sets themselves that much. The only downsides are that there's only angular motors, while linear motors would be better for some applications, and that the assortment of other parts isn't that great. But the hub is better in every way (6 ports, rechargeable battery, grid display) than the Technic hub and with 4 motors and 2 sensors you'll have enough stuff to experiment with.

At least the graph you posted shows it very close to average in terms of price per kg.

I don't think that especially the parents have ever really needed the red square on the box, but Lego has a very strong and widely recognized brand, and it has always been associated with high quality and playability, which makes Lego extremely easy buy for parents, as long as they can afford it. My hypothesis about TLG's current push into the adult markets is that while selling sets is always well and good, they do it also to make sure that their brand continues to be recognized among the people who are right now getting toys for their kids and grandkids. What better way to keep the brand afloat among adults who otherwise have no interest in toys, than to pair the product with a license that is either nostalgia-inducing (Friends, Sesame street, etc.) or otherwise "cool" (car brands, construction equipment)? Even some of the non-licensed sets like Grand Piano and Lego Art could be seen as such, as they have special target audience that is very definitely adults, not kids. This way, TLG can keep itself at the apex of the market, even with all the push coming from clone brands, which are nowhere nearly as well known and recognized to the consumers. At least where I live, practically every supermarket, toy store and department store has a section dedicated to Lego, while I've never seen most of the other brands in the physical stores and if some brands are available, there's only a handful of sets tucked somewhere in the far corner of the toys section. Online shopping isn't that much different in the end, because to find other brands online, you'll have to know what you're looking for most of the time while all stores which sell any toys carry Lego in their own highly advertised section.

Did you make your calculations based on cheapest Bricklink offers, regardless of seller? I mean, the total parts list would probably be distributed over several different BL shops, which may or may not have the best prices, and the more sellers you include, the more delivery costs there will be, and those aren't negligible, I'm guessing you'd end up easily paying like 100 or more in of your currency of choice in just delivery costs. And then you won't have stickers, printed building instructions, unboxing experience, parts sorted by building stage, etc. I'm sure some people don't care about those, but others do, so it's not 1:1 comparison. In the end it appears that the Liebherr indeed was a great deal (if you appreciate the PU parts) while the Cat is just average in TLG's lineup. I'm also willing to bet that some of the Cat's apparent overpricing can be attributed to the increased costs of production and logistics due to the pandemic, as it is known for example that the cost of shipping containers has increased drastically. It's hard to estimate if that makes up 10 or 100 currency units in the final cost, but it's something.

This is the main reason I'm not probably going to get this set. I bought the Volvo hauler because I got it cheaply, and with it my parts inventory for C+ stuff and yellow parts is in pretty good shape - so no reason to get the Cat for parts. Beyond that, it would be an awesome building experience, but not 400€ awesome. --- As few people mentioned watercraft, I'm not sure if there's ever been a proper, larger-scale boat set. Or there was the Supply ship in 1992 and it was by all accords great set, but beyond that I think all the watercraft have been pretty small in scale. Aircraft-lovers have had more nice stuff, but still not by huge margin, Technic is certainly a theme best suited for those who like construction equipment and fast cars. --- Oh, and as always, thanks for the awesome review!

I think the explanation from @allanp is pretty much point on. I can imagine this being really stressful to the parts, but then, broken parts are to be expected with battlebots.

Review from New Elementary is up, and has some interesting analysis on the new tread links: https://www.newelementary.com/2021/09/lego-technic-review-42131-cat-d11t-bulldozer.html

There was an story I heard about a pottery class where the teacher divided the class into two groups: group A was instructed to create a single vase and their grade would be judged by the quality of it. Group B was instructed to create as many vases as possible, and they would be graded simply by the total weight of their vases. At the end of the class the teacher brought in a scale, and weighed the vases of the group B and graded them. Then came the time to give grades for the group A, and it turned out that they all failed miserably, everyone getting a poor grade and none of them having made vases half as nice as the students in the other group. The moral of the story is that the students in group B created and created, vase after vase, but in doing so they got really good at making vases so by the end their vases turned out really nice. The group A on the other hand, spent most of the time theorizing how to make a perfect vase, and never getting anything properly their hands dirty and actually practicing the skill, so they ended up with very poorly made vases if anything. So, like others have said, practice is the key. You will learn the limitations of your parts, you will learn how to use them best and eventually you'll be able to turn the vision in your head into reality. Also, remember that it doesn't have to be perfect and your personal enjoyment is what matters.

By far the easiest and cheapest option is to get any PF motor and a battery box, and maybe rechargeable batteries. That way you'll avoid dealing with various cables, conversions and all that stuff but then you're stuck with battery-operated machine, which might be annoying if you want to run it continuously for a long time. PF L motors are plentiful and cheap, as are the aforementioned train remotes. With train remote you'll need a transformer too, and I'd recommend getting an official one, as it can be hard to find suitable third party transformers. You'll also need a conversion cable to fit the PF cable to the train remote, those you can either try to find online or get some of the both, PF and 9V cables and solder them together. All of this stuff is available in Bricklink, which is also probably the easiest and cheapest way to get them. Third party solutions might be cheaper but require more know-how on getting them to work.

Umm, it's Lego. You can build your own transporter. I mean, the car transporter set came with only one car, does that mean that it can only ever transport that single car? Obviously not, you can build more to get the proper play experience, if you're so inclined.

I believe that one is called Mindstorms ;)

I guess you could do that and have lots of fun, but I wouldn't want to take my Lego outside so that kinda makes it hard to enjoy the set to the fullest. On the other hand, I don't play with my sets much anyway, I generally like to build the sets and keep a few on display until I take them apart for MOCing. 42100 disagrees ;) But yeah, it's true that TLG hasn't explored the potential of the PU system much, for me it appears that they are still experimenting with the basics and there is much more to be done - if they have the courage to take the full advantage of this system they have created.

I don't think this will be a problem anytime soon, considering that TLG has invested a lot into the PU ecosystem. PF was introduced in 2007 and the last PF set to be released was 42095 in 2019, so that makes 12 years, way longer than the cycle with computers or phones. The 9V system before PF lasted I think from 1990 to 2005, so it had a similarly long lifetime. I'm very surprised if we'll see PU being phased out to be replaced with something incompatible before 2030. Nice to have some agreeing here for a once

The problem here is that the price vs. value is something that everyone must decide for themselves, there's no way to make an objective comparison between sets with that metric as everyone's priorities are different. Some want just parts, some want a cool model to show off, some want a toy to be played with, some want a nice building experience and I think most people want a little bit of each with some aspects being way more important than others. Price per part etc. are on the other hand, easily measured and quantified and comparisons between sets can be made quite easily. You obviously make the decision on value based on your priorities and so do others. Still, I don't think anyone disputes that the tow truck is an awesome set with lots of value for the money while most people probably think that the bulldozer has significantly less value for its cost. I have bought sets for each of the reasons I mentioned above (parts pack, showing off, play value, build experience) and I can't say I regret any of those purchases. But vast majority of Technic sets I haven't bought, simply because they don't meet my criteria of value vs. price and even if money wasn't at all an issue, I probably wouldn't buy most of them. The main reason I think the Cat isn't worth the money is that it's a bulldozer. It pushes things around and that's it, there's not much else that a bulldozer can be made to do, no matter how great design. In comparison the tow truck has tons of functions, small and big, and the same goes to various huge flagships of the previous years like 42082 and 42055 and even 42100. In my opinion the biggest shortcoming of the Cat isn't design or price or anything along those lines, it's just that a huge flagship set with basically a single play function loses its value way faster than almost anything else.

Looking forward to see where this is going. RC is cool and all, but I don't think there's much point to have RC in this kind of thing unless you're also going to make it drive and steer with motors. As Tenderlok said, the electronics will eat a lot of internal space that could and should be used for detailing - it's an RV after all, and most of the cool stuff happens inside. If you really want to have electronics, either PF or PU will work here, PU will probably make the construction easier as you don't need an IR receiver and the power button of the PU hubs are easier to hide well. Changing batteries is also possible without removing the whole unit.

I don't get why people make such a big deal about the 18+ thing. I mean, it's obviously just marketing talk and has nothing to do with the set's actual quality, functionality or difficulty of building. I couldn't care less if the age rating was 3+ or 18+, as long as the set is interesting to me.

All of that is perfectly possible also with C+, in addition to programmability, sensor feedback, etc. It's true that C+/PU has its problems, but you don't have to go on to invent shortcomings that aren't there.

No it's not. C+ is far superior in terms of customization and flexibility. PF is far superior in ease of use, both in construction and operation.

Umm, the RI hub has 6 ports and it's only slightly larger than a PF battery box. Of course it also has a rechargeable battery, which means that the size and shape is not dictated by 6 AA batteries. Also, the C+ hub isn't exactly larger than a PF battery box, rather it has a different shape.

It's definitely something TLG should invest in more. A lot of the current issues and shortcomings of the PU system could be resolved with just additional/better software, I don't think there's any major issues with the hardware other than the lack of a proper remote handset and maybe the lack of extension cables. (I mean, of course it would be nice to have more powerful motors and PF-like lights along with splitter cables and all that stuff, but I consider those minor tweaks rather than significant shortcomings.) And we really need a set with the dumb battery box, as it's absurdly expensive when bought separately. (No, 42113 doesn't count.)